According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, WBO Welterweight champion Timothy Bradley will take on Brandon Rios on November 7 at the Thomas & Mack Arena in Las Vegas.
The could be a slight hurdle as Sadam Ali, the WBO top-contender must take a step aside deal in order for the fight be a title fight.
“We’re confident it will all work out in the end and all parties will be satisfied,” said Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti told ESPN.com.
“I am excited to get back into the ring on Nov. 7 against a very game and very dangerous Brandon Rios,” Bradley said. “I know that he is dedicated to giving the fans what they pay for. So am I. I guarantee you that the Thomas & Mack Center will once again deliver a great match.”
Said Rios: “We’ve been looking for a big fight and at last we have it. I’ll be ready.”
“This is a great between two of the best welterweights in the world and they both have big names,” said Cameron Dunkin, Rios’ manager and Bradley’s former manager. “They’ve fought everybody. They’re both very experienced. It’s a fight that everybody is talking about and wants to see, so I am really, really excited about the matchup. Brandon is very focused on this.”
“Timothy Bradley has been around for a long time. He fought Pacquiao twice and no matter what happened the first time, if it was controversial or not, he beat him. He won. He got the title,” Rios, who lost a lopsided decision to Pacquiao in 2013 in Macau, China and then tested positive for a banned substance, said of Bradley’s massively disputed split decision win against Pacquiao in 2012. “It’s an honor to get back in the spotlight and fight a great champion.”
“As long as I get a fight, I don’t care,” Rios said. “It’s great to be fighting for a title but I don’t really care. Either way I will train my ass off and take it as a title fight because Bradley is a legit fighter and he will come to fight, especially when you put the pressure on him. When you put pressure on him, like I will do, the fighter in him will come out.”
“I didn’t care who I was going to fight. I was just happy Top Rank got me a fight after Alvarado. I didn’t care who it was,” Rios said. “It was very frustrating. I’m so pissed off, but at the end of the day I can’t let it affect me, and I can’t think about it. But I’m mad and I’m disappointed with Top Rank with the way they came about the business. Bob Arum told me after the Alvarado fight I’d be back in June and then nothing happened. It sucks the way it worked out. I like to stay active, especially after a great performance against Alvarado.”
“Offers for other fights were made to Rios and his team that were declined,” Moretti said. “Now he has as big a fight as there is, which is what his focus is on now, I hope.”
“I will be well prepared again for this big opportunity,” he said. “I’m back to my old days — happy training, hungry. I made a lot of money at a young age out of nowhere and I got a little cocky. Good thing I learned that before it was too late. You’ll see me like against Bradley the way I was against Alvarado in the third fight.”
